


The New Girl

by Wiarda



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Dancing, F/F, Fluff, M/M, New classmate, Teasing, Teenlock verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-04
Updated: 2012-06-04
Packaged: 2017-11-06 19:18:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/422282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wiarda/pseuds/Wiarda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John isn't very happy when he gets a new classmate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The New Girl

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'd. Hope you like it!

John never hated school. He liked his classmates and he even made his homework without much complains. But there were moments in which he'd wish that the whole damn thing didn't exist.

“This year, we're going to start with a new student in our class,” were the first words the teachers spoke to her pupils after their summer holiday. Immediately, all the whispered conversations between the children went dead and she had their full attention – which was a rare thing, since this class preferred to chat instead of paying attention at almost all the time. Mrs. Fields smiled and continued: “So, I expect you to give her your warmest welcome; miss Irene Adler!”

The door opened and everyone's eyes fixed on the girl that entered the room. She was quite tall for her age, wore high heels and a short summer dress that showed off her legs nicely. Her collarbones were very visible and stuck out a little, but her curly dark brown hair soothed that little imperfect detail. Several boys in the back of the class stood up to get a better look at her. Irene chuckled and smiled at them before joining Mrs. Fields behind her desk.

“Well then, Irene.” Mrs. Fields placed a hand on her shoulder, her way to some specific students that she favoured them. “Would you be kind enough to introduce yourself?”

“Of course, Mrs. Fields.” Irene's voice was a little low for a girl her age, but no-one seemed to mind. Especially not the boys in the back, judging by the way one of them winked at her. It was nothing to look up from; they always flirted with new girls, simply because they were unknown in the school and therefore easier to get than the ones that knew them well enough to figure out they were the biggest idiots alive. “As you were kind enough to tell already, my name is Irene Adler, I've moved recently to London and I hope I will have a great time here.”

The boy that winked stood up from his chair and called: “If you're going to sit next to me, I'll make sure you will!”

His friend, a big kid with a continuous eyebrow looked at him in surprise. “But I'm already sitting next to you, there's no room.”

Mrs. Fields slapped loudly on her desktop to gain the attention again. “Ahum! Enough now. I'm sure you'd all be happy to volunteer as a guide during Irene's first day here, but I fear that she isn't waiting for your sort of help, Sebastian.” She gestured him to sit down again, which he did, but clearly irritated. “I personally think she'd rather have some help from someone more... reliable. John, would you mind?”

On the other side of the classroom, the eldest boy in class shrugged. “No, not at all. But as you can see, I've already shared my table with someone else.”

The teacher pulled her eyebrows up in surprise, as if she hadn't seen her youngest pupil sitting next to him at all. “Oh! Well, in that case... Sherlock, would you be kind enough to move one table to the back?” she asked politely, with a too-sweet smile that silently screamed that he if he dared to argue, he would regret it. So, knowing that it would be a waste of time to take that challenge, Sherlock moved all his stuff to the empty table behind him and sat down without any protests.

Once Irene had sat down and John'd introduced himself to the girl, the lesson started and everyone focussed on Mrs. Fields' story about the importance of punctuation again. Or at least, that was what they should. Instead of that, the whole class was holding whispered conversations about their new classmate, including Sherlock. Although he preferred to write.

John was in the middle of his story about avoiding the caretakers during breaks and trying not to let Sebastian know which locker was Irene's to the girl when he noticed a note on his desktop. “Eh, sorry,” he apologized to her, but apparently she hadn't been really listening to him, since she seemed to be focussed on Mrs. Fields' lesson and didn't react to him.

Sherlock's handwriting was messy and barely readable for someone that wasn't used to reading it. Apparently he had been writing in a hurry, because even John had some trouble figuring it out.

She fakes it all. She tries to fit in the class as smooth as possible by giving everyone what they want; she reacts happily to the flirting of Sebastian and co., is overly polite to Fields, and takes her advantage of being in the middle of the attention instead of getting shy. The way she walked into class. Normally, Fields doesn't make new students wait in the hall until she calls them. So, clearly this was Adler's idea. John, she is a problem.

Not short after Sherlock had given his friend the ripped-out page of his notebook, he got it back with a message written on it on the back:

For what I'm used of you, you've barely deduced anything I didn't notice already. I fail to see why she is a problem.

A few minutes and another ripped page later:

That's exactly the point. Her intentions are unclear to me. She doesn't just want to fit in, she wants to fit in because she needs people around her that adore her, she needs the attention but why? There are so many options and she doesn't confirm of deny any of them. She is smart enough to know exactly how to pocket everyone, so why would she need the attention?

Just as John took his pen to answer him again, the buzzer in the hallway made its familiar dying whale-sound to make clear that the lesson was over. Everyone packed their rucksacks and left the room, and as soon as Irene stepped outside as well, they stuck around her like bees to honey.

“Where did you get that dress?” “Do you have a boyfriend?” “I like your shoes!” “I'm sure John won't mind if you chose me over him to guide you.” 

“Alright, enough!” John called. “It's hard enough if you're new at school, you're not making it easier by examining her.”

The questions faded away and most people seemed to be going their own ways again, but a few followed them to the cafeteria. So did Sherlock; he refused to know less about Irene Adler by the end of the day as John. And he also didn't want to be left alone.

The two of them only noticed him once they'd settled around one of the tables. They were chatting about teachers and the difference between them when Irene suddenly looked around, finding a dark-haired boy standing a couple of meters away from her. She smiled warmly at him, reached up her hand as a greet and said: “You're the freak of the school, I assume?”

Immediately, John's mood changed from nice and welcoming to defensive. He narrowed his eyes and when Irene held out her hand to give Sherlock a handshake, he stood in between them. “Sorry, what did you say? 'The freak of the school'?”

“Yes,” Irene answered calmly, clearly not aware of any offensiveness in her words. Then, her lips formed the word 'oh!' and she rolled her eyes. “I didn't mean that as an insult towards your boyfriend, darling. No need to get all excited.”

John was baffled. Not only because he was clearly not Sherlock's boyfriend (why would she even think that?) but also because Irene just insulted him without caring in the slightest. “It was!” he therefore called, before he realized what he just confirmed. The tips of his ears turned pink. “I mean, he isn't my boyfriend. I'm not gay – but that was offens-”

“Brother, dear!” John's rattle was interrupted by the sharp voice of his older sister. Harriet wrapped her arms around him from behind, knowing that that irritated John more than anything else. “Tell me, why are you upset?” She shot a glance towards Irene, grinned and added; “Oh dear, did you crash and burn with the new girl?”

Her brother's slightly pinkish flush turned into a deep red blush as he struggled to get free. “Shut up, Harry. Unlike you, I don't ask every new girl out for a date immediately.”

That surprised Harry. She let go of her brother and walked up to Irene. “So you've managed to upset him on your first day without rejecting him?” With a bright smile she offered her her hand. “You must be awesome.”

Meanwhile, Sherlock had sat down at the table and was staring at the opposite wall. His hands were folded into a praying position and his whole gesture made clear that he was thinking. He was thinking very deep. Despite that, John sat down next to him and offered him an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that. You're not a freak, you know that, right?”

Sherlock shot him a look. “Of course I am the freak. I am the freak of the school, Irene is right. She said that to me to give me a glimpse of what she can... she's fascinating.”

“Oh, so first she was a problem and now she's fascinating? That's the fastest that I've ever seen a crush developing.”

“I'm not having a crush on her,” Sherlock replied calmly. “She is simply different, an outsider and yet fits in perfectly with the rest. That is fascinating.”

Their conversation was interrupted by Harry, who tried to get John's attention by tapping his shoulder – or her version of tapping, which was giving continuous slaps on his shoulder until he couldn't ignore her anymore. “I'm going to give Irene a decent tour through the school, since you're too busy with your boyfriend.” She looked around and shared a smile with Irene at the last sneer. Clearly, the new girl had told her all about her way to tease John. The only reaction she got was an irritated look in their direction, an “I'm not gay!” and an attempted hit in the stomach that missed.

*

Three months later, it was clear to John that Irene had found her place. Since she was incredibly flexible with the way she acted around people, she treated everyone differently but exactly how they wanted to be treated. She flirted with Sebastian, gossiped with the girls, joked around with the other boys and shot a glance towards Sherlock now and then, which was enough to make him sit and stare and say nothing for at least fifteen minutes if she did it exactly the right way. The way that made him puzzle. The only one she seemed to ignore completely was John. It took him more than four weeks to figure out why; because he never fell for her 'charmes'. Everyone did, she had the whole class at her feet, except for him. From the beginning he hadn't been very impressed by her, but he also didn't dislike her. Until she started teasing him and Sherlock, accompanied by his own sister. Sherlock didn't really seem to mind, but John did and therefore it was only a better game for her; they were all against him. Or at least, that was the case until the last day of October.

John and Sherlock had a very strong friendship. An odd one, but that only seemed to make it closer. John was fascinated by the strange boy and Sherlock was simply happy and relieved that there was someone out there that truly accepted him for who he was instead of trying to avoid him the best as possible. So, at their age, it wasn't very weird that they started to experiment with that.

Due a lack of better options, Sherlock'd asked John to the first school party of the year. The theme was gala and everyone was supposed to bring a date. Knowing that Sherlock would probably go alone or wouldn't go at all if he said no, John accepted his offer and tried to ban the thought of Harry and Irene's smirk out of his mind when they'd find out. Of course, when they did find out, the teasing became more and more. At first he tried to win the argument as he had done all those times before, but later on he decided to ignore it. The most peaceful option.

Surprisingly enough, the gala wasn't even that bad. It had been a little awkward at first, since all the students were supposed to have one decent dance before the normal party music would start. John was a good dancer, but he'd always been taught to lead, not to follow. And since Sherlock was taller and surprisingly enough much better at dancing, it was obvious that he should be leading. So after a few awkward missteps and stumbles, they finally found the right rhythm and danced.

By the end of the night, the same sort of music came on again, and before John could've chosen a nice female classmate, Sherlock had already claimed him. After a quick roll with his eyes John decided to give in and let him have a fun night. But, to his surprise, it soon turned out to be fun for him as well. The music was slower this time, much slower. After just one minute John found himself resting his head on the taller boy's chest like every other follower did, and he actually enjoyed himself. In Sherlock's long arms nothing really seemed to be important anymore, there was nothing to worry about. What was the worst that could happen?

He soon found out. Harry had taken a picture of them with her phone. The quality wasn't really good, but it was clear enough to see exactly how they were standing; John's eyes closed, cheek on Sherlock's chest, half of Sherlock's face buried in his hair as if he was kissing his forehead. As soon as John found out about that picture – which was quite soon, since Harry had sent it to everyone in her contact list, he thought he'd actually felt those lips on his forehead. But instead of being disgusted or annoyed by that, which would have been a perfectly normal reaction for him as a straight boy, he found he was only flattered that Sherlock had really thrown all his defences down for him that evening. Pity that it was thrown back in his face that way.

The next school day, after the weekend in which almost the whole school had seen the picture, the teasing began. It was almost bullying. John didn't mind that much since he'd gotten used to it, thanks to his sister and Irene, but he did mind that they were also bullying Sherlock, in a quite rough way. He also was the freak of the school, after all. He tried to protect him, which only made the teasing worse, until someone suddenly put an end to it.

They were at the gymnasium for PE-classes, and the teacher had gone away to pick up something for the lesson. Of course, the whole class had seen this as an opportunity to start yelling things at Sherlock again, but then the voice of one girl cut them off.

“Stop that!” Irene called. “Leave them alone. If they're happy the way their relationship is now, let them be.”

The whole class went silent. Everyone stared at Irene as if she'd just spoken another language to them until John muttered: “I'm not actually gay.”

“Well, I am,” Irene shot back. “And I'd rather not be in a class full of homophobes.”

A few seconds after silence had fallen again, Sebastian dared to ask: “Uh- so do you have, like... a girlfriend then?”

Irene rolled her eyes. “Yes. Curious who it is? The same girl that sent you that picture.” She looked around, checking if she had the full attention before she continued: “She never meant that to turn you all against them. She wanted to send it to her brother only, as a tease. She is happy for them, I am happy for them. Please grow some brains and accept it as well.”

*

They did. The teasing stopped abruptly, and after a few weeks no one even seemed to notice them anymore. Not even when they somehow ended up kissing at the Christmas ball. No, their reaction was quite the opposite; they were all happy for them, congratulated them for being brave enough to accept it as well.

And Sherlock found out why Irene needed the attention. As a protection. Not only for herself, but also for the persons she loved or respected – which were the Watsons, mostly. Harriet for obvious reasons, and John because she had respected him from the beginning. He was a strong person, one that didn't need a leader like everyone else in class did, except for Sherlock. So, what he described as a problem earlier, turned out to be the solution to all their problems in the end.

**Author's Note:**

> With Sebastian, you can interpret it as both Sebastian Moran or Sebastian Wilkers (The Blind Banker). Or as someone that hasn't appeared in the series. I simply used the name because I like it.


End file.
